2.5 months in pictures

Well the New Year started off here:
And I saw a TON of friends and family including:
When I got back to Bakersfield I found out about this:
February was very busy. In the beginning of the month I traveled for the first time to Vail, CO for a quick weekend that included:

(Giants win Super bowl 42!!!!!!!!)

Then in the middle of February, Lindsey and I traveled north to San Francisco to visit my friend John from Penn State (who now goes to Berkeley for grad school):

(Union Square)(Chinatown)(above is Alcatraz)

At the end of the month, Marc finally made a visit out... even though it was only a couple of days:
That's pretty much my life summed up into pictures. Last weekend I went to a teaching conference in Anaheim with Lindsey. The 3rd grading quarter just ended on Friday and I put all of my grades in already. This week I am off for spring break - pretty nice having a whole week off, hm?? Erica is coming to visit tomorrow and she'll be staying until next Monday. I'm super excited. I've got lots of plans including Hollywood, LA, various beaches, Disneyland and Vegas. Hopefully I will be better with updating now that I've got a handle on school.

I miss everyone very much, but I'll definitely be back east in July!

~ Carol

Apology

Sorry I haven't updated for a month. I've been super busy with some minor traveling and some major working. Two weeks ago I completed the 4 grad classes (yes, 12 credits) I was taking through University of San Diego so I've been focusing on what I came here to do - teach!!

As usual, I have been photographing what is going on in my life and let me tell you, life is good! The new camera I got is absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, I really don't have time to do a major update now. I'm grading papers all night and I'm visiting San Francisco this weekend. I'm hoping to be back here Sunday so I HOPE to get an awesome photo update for y'all.

Hope everyone is well and that you are staying warm. I don't want to brag so I won't tell you it's been about 67 and sunny here. Ooops.

~ Carol

Travel recap

Here's an update for those I haven't talked to this week.

Yes I made it back to sunny southern California last Saturday. A little disheveled - wait who am I kidding, VERY disheveled - and less than happy with the turn of events that was Saturday.

Here's a copy of my flight summary that Lindsey copied while I was en route.

Click on it to see the times. It's fun to compare the scheduled time vs. the actual time.

Once I finally landed in LA, I rushed down to baggage to collect the two bags I checked. It took 30 minutes for United to get their act together and I ended up watching my bus arrive and leave. That was fun. Then I had to wait 2.5 hours for another bus. I ate a 10 dollar, terrible sandwich, and laid on top of my bags. I got back into Bakersfield at 9pm, which concluded my 16 hour travel day.

Lindsey took this picture of me after I finished telling her the details of my day:
Thankfully, I have gotten back into the swing of things. I am starting a new unit with my students. We will be reading Elie Wiesel's non-fiction novel, Night. It's his story about surviving the Holocaust. This is a tricky subject not only because of the sensitive issues of racism, genocide, etc. but because a lot of my students didn't even know what I was talking about when I mentioned the Holocaust. While this was shocking to me, it doesn't present much of an issue because I will just allow more time for pre-reading activities. Next week, I'm taking them into the library and we will be doing some research about the time period. People in general do so much better when they have the opportunity to teach themselves and each other, rather than listen to a lecture.

That's about all I should say for now. I have to finish up my grad school classes by the end of the month. Yes, I said grad school. I'm taking 12 credits (full time status) through the University of San Diego. I can't wait until it's finished.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend. Tomorrow - let's go Giants!!

- Carol

California storms...

...are keeping me from leaving Philly. I've been here since 5:30 am, hoping to fly out at 6:50 but alas - my flight was delayed FIVE hours. People are so disgruntled about it around here...

and I suppose I'm a little disheartened about hanging around by myself

but

it's better than getting stuck in the air with sickening turbulence

or

dying.


Priorities, people. Priorities.

(Hopefully I can get out soon and safely.)




- Carol

West coast update from the east coast: celebrate the holidays

As promised, I have another massive update. This will take you right up until I left for Pennsylvania.

We had a big, pre-Thanksgiving party to get a bunch of people together who are not locals. Many were our age and work at Dreyer's with Jeff. It was potluck so we took care of the turkey. Jeff didn't want to grab the insides so I saved the day!


For actual Thanksgiving, I took a flight over to Kentucky to see Marc. I hung out in the studio while he worked, we made Thanksgiving dinner, and at the end of the week, we hung out in Nashville, TN.

I LOVE playing Guitar Hero!!!
Downtown Nashville.
I can't get Yuengling in California.
Flight back to CA: The space between the clouds.

At the beginning of December, we took another trip to Las Vegas. We stayed right on the strip at the Flamingo and had a great weekend. We were also able to go to the Bodies exhibit which was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. When we returned, we decided to get a Christmas tree for the apartment. That was fun getting it up the stairs.

Penn State Christmas tree!!

I finished up my last week of school by giving finals for three days. We had shortened days and I was able to leave Friday night (Dec. 21st) on a direct, red-eye flight from LA to Philly. Now I'm just taking it easy and trying to relax before I have to begin the 2nd semester! Hope the holidays are treating everyone well, and all are in good health. My new year's resolution is to update this blog more often, even if it's just a blurb. If you are someone who reads this, please know I do appreciate the little notes you leave me. Knowing that people care to read about my adventures helps motivate me to keep doing this. Happy new year everyone!!

- Carol

West coast update from the east coast: San Diego trips

Hello everyone!

First let me apologize for my lack of updates the past two months. I've been well but extremely busy, as I'm sure you can understand. I flew back into PA last Saturday (the 22nd) and have been trying to see as many people as possible while I'm here. I am here for another week yet (the 5th), so I still have some time.

Before I left, I saved my life in photos from the past two months so I could share when I had a moment to sit. Well, now is that moment! As usual, all photos are taken by me, unless otherwise noted. I borrowed a couple from my roommate, Lindsey, when my camera was on the fritz. Enjoy!

At the end of October, Lindsey and I took a visit to San Diego. It was my first time there and the massive forest fires were still going on. A lot of people told us we were nuts to go down at that time but we had no problems. Here are a couple shots from that weekend... the first two are mine, the rest were taken by Lindsey:
Click on the picture above to make it larger. Note the writing and the reflection. The man in the wheelchair has one leg. This was not planned.
Above is Pyramid Lake which is on I 5 on the way back to Bakersfield from San Diego. It is a man-made recreation spot.

I took this photo at 7am when I came into school on October 29th.

These are some of my students working on a Poe project.

We took another visit to San Diego on the weekend of November 10th. My camera decided to cooperate this time around.

The following are photos of our ride back on the 101... also known as the Pacific Coast Highway. We took the train up the coast. Very cool.

Here is a video I took with my camera of Turkey playing with his slinky. Sorry for the poor quality. I knew he would stop if I turned on the bigger light.



Hope you enjoyed this long awaited update. I'll do another round tomorrow. :)